American Diet Gets Failing Grade

Americans are still falling short of national dietary recommendations, eating too many sweets and not enough vegetables and whole grains, according to the CDC.

On a national healthy-eating index that measured compliance with U.S. dietary guidelines from 2005, the average overall diet score was only about 60 points out of 100 -- "indicating Americans' diets need improvement," Bethene Ervin, PhD, RD, wrote in a National Health Statistics Report.

To come up with the estimates, Ervin looked at data on 4,448 adults ages 20 and up from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004.

She found that American adults were well below the maximum standard for all the HEI-2005 component scores except for total grains and meat and beans.

Scores for dark green and orange vegetables and whole grains were particularly poor, reflecting insufficient intake, she reported, while those for sodium and calories from sugars and alcohol reflected excessive intakes.

Women's diets appeared healthier than men's, Ervin noted, as they had better scores on fruit, vegetable, and discretionary calorie intakes as well as slightly better overall diets.

The same held true for older patients, she reported, with adults age 60 and up having better scores regarding fruit, vegetable, and bad calorie intakes.

Better-educated Americans -- those with at least a high school education -- more closely complied with the recommendations than those who had less education, Ervin reported.

She added that no racial or ethnic group stood out as having better dietary scores than any other.

Ervin concluded that adults need to up their intake of most of the recommended dietary components -- especially dark green and orange vegetables and legumes and whole grains -- while lowering the amount of sodium and calories from sugar and alcohol consumed.

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